


Unexpectations

by journeycat



Category: PIERCE Tamora - Works, Protector of the Small - Tamora Pierce, Tortall - Tamora Pierce
Genre: Extramarital Affairs, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-17
Updated: 2011-06-17
Packaged: 2018-03-02 07:21:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: None - Warning
Chapters: 1
Words: 399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2804252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journeycat/pseuds/journeycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On Lerant, as he rises in the world, falls in love, and raises a son not his own.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unexpectations

A lot could happen in twelve years, as Lerant knew quite well, and half of it if not all was completely unexpected.

He never expected to win recognition for heroic deeds—all he did was lead a little squad against a Scanran war party and hold them off until the Riders could get there, and that wasn't all him. He never could have done it without his men, but even they lay the credit on him.

He never expected to restore honor to his broken, nothing house. And yet, Eldorne again received invitations to the palace, and even were guests of honor to the king from time to time.

He never expected Wolset to lose an arm and never expected Dom to lose his heart to a quirky Rider Commander. He never expected Keladry to bear a son out of wedlock and never name the father.

Most of all, Lerant never expected to fall in love with her. That, perhaps, was the biggest surprise of all to him. It took a long time, but he finally asked her to marry him. She accepted with a flurry of kisses, and they wed, and her young son called him _Da_ and Lerant forgot he wasn't even his, even when she bore him a son of his own.

But when the invitations from the palace came, Kel refused. She told Lerant to go, and to take little Raoul, but she and Piers would stay, though Piers threw a tantrum of epic proportions every time.

"Why?" he asked, each time, but she would just look away. This was one secret she would not share.

"Please," she would say instead, and nothing more.

Sometime he went, and sometimes he stayed with her. It had to do with Piers' father, Lerant knew. He had never asked Kel who it was because he had never cared, but for the first time, he began to wonder.

"Who is he?"

"I can't say."

But later, as they were laying in bed and he was on the verge of sleep, she leaned over and whispered in his ear. And Lerant learned why Kel kept Piers' parentage a secret for so long.

Piers was _his_ son, no matter what his bloodline was, but should someone ever find out that Piers was truly the son of a king—how many people would want to use him for their own political agenda?


End file.
